Rear tire help

[hpwcycleservice]

I am usually very strict about putting on wider tires than the wheel can really fit well but with the Hawk I know most of you run a 160 rear on the stock wheel.

I have some BS Michelin ST tires on now (they came with the bike) and the tire gets really steep towards the edge. I hate that.

I want to get Qualifiers, so what's the deal? Should I get the 160 or a different tire that comes in 150?

Thanks.

[ghandi1616]

I think that most of the people on the list that have the stock wheel go with the 160 width tire. I know that 150 was the stock size that they came with. One thing that I think (most people would agree) is to have the same brand front and rear tire, Michelin, Conti, Dunlop etc. As for the tire to pick, everyone has their own opinion (mine is the Conti Sport Attack-love them).

[tkm433]

Re: Rear tire help

I want to get Qualifiers, so what's the deal? Should I get the 160 or a different tire that comes in 150?

Thanks.

I went to some of the tire company web sites to see what size tires would fit what size wheels and as you will notice below you can run up to a 170/60 on your stock Hawk rear wheel and it is still smaller in overall diameter than the stock size 150/70 that came on the Hawk.

So you can use the stock 150/70, 160/60 or even a 170/60 in the case of these three tires on your stock Hawk 4.50 inch wide rear wheel. Now the question that comes in play is will the wider tire rub any part of the swingarm, chain guard or other item? Now will running a smaller diameter tire upset the handling of the bike since it will change the steering angle of the head tgube of the bike. Everyone thinks that their bike rides better when they install a cbr900 rear shock since in lifts the rear end about 1/2" or so. So ask yourself will lowering the rear by 1/2" be good or bad?

Now that we looked at the rear of the bike what tire size are you going to use on the front? Will it also be a differrnt overall diameter than stock? If so, how will it play in the handling of the bike? We could play this game all day long so I will leave it with to you to decide.

I am personally running a 170/60 on the stock rear wheel and a 120/70 on a CBR600F2 wheel on the front and the only issue that I had was a slight contact between the chain guard and the tire which I since fixed.


APPLICABLE RIMS
(RECOMMENDED RIM)

OVERALL DIAMETER

OVERALL WIDTH

Viper Sport AV60
160/60R17 24.6 6.4 (4.50) 4.25 - 5.00
170/60R17 25.0 6.8 (4.50) 4.25 - 5.50

Storm ST AV56
150/70ZR17 25.2 6.1 (4.00) 4.00-4.50

Dunlop Qualifer
160/60ZR17 24.8 6.69 (4.50) 4.50 - 5.00
170/60ZR17 24.9 6.65 (5.00) 4.50 - 5.50

[Logicus]

You know what's weird? My Hawk had a 150/60 Metz Sportec M-1 on the rear stock wheel.

hmph.